[Michael Szalapski]

Steve’s right – a null is the way to go.

Here’s how I would do it:
Make them 3d layers
Position them back in z space half the width you want the carousel to be.
Animate the up and down motion (every other one up while every other one goes down…or something, you might not want the up and down motion at all.)
Create your null and make it 3d.
Parent one layer to the Null
Rotate the null 180 degrees
Parent another layer to the null
Rotate the null 90 degrees. You should now have two layers moved, one on the left, one on the right.
Parent another layer to the null
Rotate the null 180 degrees
Parent another layer to the null
Rotate the null 45 degrees
Parent another layer to the null
Rotate the null 90 degrees
Parent another layer to the null
Rotate the null 90 degrees
Parent another layer to the null
Rotate the null 90 degrees
Parent your last layer to the null.

Now, when you animate your null’s rotation, all of your layers should be evenly spaced and moving in a circle. You can set them to auto-orient towards the camera if you want.

That’s one way anyway…

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Mask your thing, precomp it, then apply smear to the precomp.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

On the left hand side of your screen should be a link that says, “Search posts” Click on it. Do an advanced search (include the archives) for Matrix and Bullet.

Should do you just fine.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Yes, thank you for all you do Ron you and your wife (and Cowdog) are great. I can’t imagine all the time and effort (and money) you must have put into this site.

Thank you so very much.

If there is anything I can do for you guys, let me know. I’m a pretty good proof reader (when I’m not posting) if you need help with the magazine I would be glad to pitch in.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Toy around with the lighting options Shatter gives you. Read the help files/manual.

And if all else fails try levels or curves.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Duffbeer isn’t the only one with that thought.
I’ve tried to make a valuable contribution to the COW and I would hate for someone to steal my name and make me look like a jerk.

Because I’m not one of those.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

What version of AE are you using? 7 has a built in time change plugin thingy. Since I have yet to get around to upgrading I don’t know what it’s called or where it’s found.

There are plugins around like Twixtor that do an excellent job of filling in frames where there are none to give a smooth slow mo.

There were some free plugins around to do this, but they don’t work terribly well. I think one was called DynaPel or something like that.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

[Riccardo Sinti] My Wiggler don’t work…Do I have a Wacky Wiggler?””

I’ve got some span in my inbox that says it can help you with this…problem.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

[Riccardo Sinti] My Wiggler don’t work…Do I have a Wacky Wiggler?””

I’ve got some span in my inbox that says it can help you with this…problem.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Michael Szalapski]

Particular from https://Trapcode and ParticleIllusion from Wondertouch would both (with a bit of work) be able to achieve this. Elvis Deane has a tutorial here on the COW for turning a layer into particles in ParticleIllusion. I think there are some things on Trapcode’s site that would help if you’re using their product.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.